When I stepped into this world, I saw that we were all burdened by a certain kind of indifference to the plight of poor people. We were burdened by an insensitivity to a legacy of racial bias. We were tolerating unfairness and unreliability in a way that burdened me and provoked me.

We have a system of justice in [the US] that treats you much better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent. Wealth, not culpability, shapes outcomes.

I don't think there's been a time in American history with more innocent people in prison.

Somebody has to stand when other people are sitting. Somebody has to speak when other people are quiet.

Always do the right thing even when the right thing is the hard thing

The reality is that capital punishment in America is a lottery. It is a punishment that is shaped by the constraints of poverty, race, geography and local politics.

We all have a responsibility to create a just society